Dialer and Contacts

Yup, people still use their phones to talk to people. On iOS 7, the Phone app is pretty much all you need to call someone as it lists your contacts, your recent calls, and your favorites. Of course, a keypad is available as well for manual phone number input. What's great about iOS 7 is that it lets the one block certain contacts, thus preventing them from calling, texting, or even initiating a FaceTime conversation with the user.

Android's Phone app is very similar, but it has one notable advantage over its iOS counterpart, namely that it displays a photo of each contact as you scroll down the list, while the iPhone's contacts app shows a contact's image only if you tap on them to view detailed information, or if that particular contact is in your favorites.

On-screen keyboard and messaging

Typing on a mobile device quickly and efficiently is often a matter of getting used to its on-screen keyboard's size and layout. With iOS 7 and the iPhone, in particular, we can easily type texts using a single thumb because the phone's width is optimal for the purpose. The Google Nexus 4, running Android 4.3, is wider and is therefore more comfortable to use with two thumbs rather than one, and that is usually valid for any Android device with a screen of 4.5-inches and above. Overall, both virtual keyboards are pretty nice. International users can rest assured that both support a wide variety of input languages. Yet perhaps Android has a slight advantage in this category with its dedicated smiley key and the option to enter text using the swiping method.

But when it comes to messaging, iOS has the upper hand over Android with its iMessage system, which automatically routes texts over the web instead of eating up the user's monthly SMS allowance. The feature works as long as the recipient is also using an iPhone or another compatible Apple device. Moreover, iMessage is usually faster than sending regular texts, shows you when the other person is typing their response, and syncs your conversations across Apple devices. It would be nice if one day Android integrates Hangouts with the messaging app, thus replicating to some extent the functionality of Apple's iMessage service.

Email

Whether you're using iOS 7 or Android 4.3, setting up your email account is a straight-forward process, requiring you to input nothing but your address, password, and perhaps your real name. Settings can be adjusted manually, if needed. Both platforms offer tools allowing one to sort their inbox in a manner they prefer. on Android 4.3, there's the primary inbox for Gmail users, listing all important email. Social networking updates and shopping promos get automatically filtered and are listed in their separate folders, which is neat. There's also the Priority inbox, which highlights only emails from people you communicate with the most. Apple, on the other hand, has the VIP inbox feature, collecting emails from people you mark as very important. The marking, process, however, has to be done manually.

Productivity tools

The calendar applications in iOS 7 and Android 4.3 are very similar in terms of appearance and functionality. Therefore, we can't say which one is better as they both get their job done pretty well. New events can be added in just a few steps, and a reminder will alert you prior to that event's beginning. Calendars can be synchronized with the cloud, which makes them accessible from other devices as well.

At a glance, the calculators on both platforms look pretty similar, but those who need to access advanced functions often will appreciate iOS 7's solution a lot more. The advanced panel is accessible as soon as the phone is flipped in landscape mode, while stock Android 4.3 requires the user to bring forth the advanced panel manually.

Also, we find the clock on iOS 7 better designed than Android's, and that's not only because its home screen icon now displays the actual time. It is more intuitive to use and better-looking, with easy to access additional timekeeping features.

Furthermore, we must mention that iOS 7 has apps for Notes and Reminders out of the box, while on stock Android 4.3, these have to be downloaded separately. On top of that, you get a Compass that has a built-in level as well, and Apple's Passbook app, which keeps track of your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, and more. Clearly, iOS 7 is loaded with more goodies out of the box.

Multitasking and support for multiple users

Multitasking on iOS 7 vs Android 4.3

Well, we have nothing to complain about really when it comes to both platforms' implementation of multitasking. Switching between apps on both iOS 7 and Android 4.3 is pretty straightforward. Apple's mobile OS now provides app preview windows, unlike in previous version where the apps were listed only with their icon. Multitasking on Android is also executed well, with recent apps listed vertically along with a screenshot of their last state.

One of Android 4.3's significant advantages over iOS 7 is that it allows multiple user accounts to be set on the same Android tablet. That allows one, for example, to share their Android tablet with friends and family without them having access to other users' personal stuff.

Well they compared things Apple can do to things android can do. Like the Calendar review is fair until you realize you can put your calendar in one of your home screens or on your home screen etc. You dont need to open your phone application to make a call, you can just click on someones picture on your homescreen. My wife just switched to Iphone from s3. She wishes she didnt. I went with S4.

My brother didn't really care for the changes in iOS7 as well and he went from an iPhone 4S to 5 to 5S. The only thing that bothers me about iOS7 is the super coloful Playskool icons on a device that looks pretty professional. If the iPhone 5s came with a 4.5" screen and a more staid color scheme in line with OSX I would probably consider it.

Also, despite running on Android 4.1.2 with LG's UI, my Spectrum 2 is just as fluid as my brother's iPhone 5s in scrolling, typing and browsing. So there's no lag on this Android and maybe I'll keep the phone long enough to see 4.3.

i dont know what OS your talking about cuz the two are not even close. as far as someone saying that it looks cheap?? are you kidding, lets be honest here the transition effects are pretty nice, the way they implement the folders is a nice thing to see. honestly i know this is a mostly pro android site by no fault of the site creators, but damn, i like what they did and they closed the gap is a pretty big way.

"routs texts over the web instead of eating up the user's monthly SMS allowance. "

Barring the typo, I disagree that this is an advantage of iOS. It's a major disadvantage. Everyone and their mother has unlimited texting. Few smartphone users have unlimited data. My brother repeatedly hits his data cap of 2GB, and has to disable mobile data often. iMessages no longer come through, and he misses texts from other iPhone users because of it.

I kinda disagree here. Text are a few kb to maybe a meg for a mms. But I have to pay 30 a month for unlimited texting on my 3 lines. So I would take it over my data plan anyday. Plus, at the place I work when I have to go out on to the manufacturing floor (not very often) I don't get texts because I don't have cell service. But there is WIFI out there.

i dont agree with you either, because one thing imessage does that i like so much, UNCOMPRESSED images and videos. i hate the fact that android does it, hey lets be honest, whats the point of a great camera when you send a picture mail compresses the image so much that you might as well send it with a flip phone.

As far as iMessages going over the data cap i think your missing something else, i would send about 10,000 text messages a month and never go over my data cap, so its not iMessages doing it i would take a longer look in to the phone and see where the real issue is.

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